Holden selectmen vying for 1st

HOLDEN — Two Holden selectmen are now running for the 1st Worcester District state representative seat being vacated by Lewis Evangelidis (R-Holden), who announced his campaign for Worcester County Sheriff on Tuesday.

Select board Chairman Kimberly Ferguson has scheduled the kickoff for her Republican campaign for 6-8 p.m. Monday, March 8, at Val’s on Reservoir Street in Holden.

Ferguson, a speech pathologist and 20-year resident of Holden (with one break, she admits), is in her third term on the select board and served one term on the School Committee.

She’s also a veteran of campaigns — local and statewide — from a slightly different angle. Her husband Mark Ferguson was a two-term Holden selectman who narrowly lost the same state representative seat to David Bunker in a special election in 2000.

If no other candidates join the race, Ferguson will face her colleague on the board, Kenneth O’Brien (D-Holden), in November. O’Brien is a small business owner and 19-year resident of Holden, and has served two terms on the select board.

He said this week he planned to announce his candidacy on Wednesday, March 10, at the Mountain Barn in Princeton.

O’Brien, too, is something of a veteran of campaigns outside Holden: his brother was elected mayor of Worcester in 2009.

O’Brien has also been active in helping get trees replaced that were destroyed by the Asian longhorned beetle — and then by the Ice Storm of 2008.

As for whether the two can keep their campaign rivalry off the agenda at the select board, Ferguson doesn’t see any problems.

“I believe the other board members will keep us in check,” she says.

In addition to Holden, the district includes Hubbardston, Oakham, Princeton, Rutland, Westminster and Precinct 1 of Sterling.